Archive for March, 2007

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SALAMI SANDWICH theory #4

Saturday, March 31st, 2007

Theory #4

Clark Kent had had a bad day.  The Daily Planet had downsized and he was one of the writers who had been let go.  No amount of the superpowers he secretly possessed were going to get him his job back.  In the end he knew this didn’t matter.  It wasn’t about the money or about the position.  It’s just that, Superman just got fired?  He’d always been humble, but now he’d been humbled.  Well, hopefully the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich he had just ordered would help him get his mind off of things.
Philly Cheese Steaks had always been his favorite, and he had always had one when he was down.  They always seemed to cheer him up.  The cheese, the mushrroms, the green peppers, the sauted onions, the STEAK on a HOAGIE!!!  Oh was he looking forward to this!
The waitress passes by and drops off his sandwich.  “Here you go, sir.” 
Clark looked down, and to his surprise, did not see a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.  No, instead he saw a salami sandwich plain on white bread.  It was an honest mistake, sure.  It probably just belonged to the guy on the table to his left.  His sandwich was probably about to come out.  But that didn’t cross his mind at this moment.  He was still hurting from the event earlier in the day, and this was just one more thing to upset him. 
Without hesitating, he grabbed the sandwich and flung it as hard as he could as he swung arounf towards the door.  Just then a patron opened the door to walk in.  The sandwich whizzed by his head and out into the New York Streets (Metropolis as it is called) with an enormous amount of velocity.  The great speed and the whooshing sound caused everybody to look up just to see, not Superman… but his salami sandwich!!!

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Update Info

Saturday, March 31st, 2007

Today I have taken all of my stories from “A Collection of Short, Short, Short, Short Stories” and put them in my archive. For now the dates are made up.  The only thing that is accurate is the year they were written.  I have to go back and find the actual dates of authorship, and then I’ll fix that.  If you’d like to read them, just go into the area marked “A Collection of Short, Sh…”  OK you get the picture.  Enjoy the stories.  I promise that there will be more on the way!!!

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A balanced life… getting stated

Saturday, March 31st, 2007

You know, Monday is coming. The reason I bring that up is that I’m sure that someone who read this decided that Monday would be a good time to get started.  I’m as guilty as everyone else for doing that.  We have a way to limiting ourselves to beginning an ending things a certain way and let life’s parameters contorl us.  We need to stop doing this.  Life begins anew today, not tomorrow.  Every time we put something off, we give ourselves permission to put it off again.  If this coming Monday, then, is not convenient for whatever reason, then we automatically set NEXT Monday as a new starting date.  Three inconvenient Mondays and suddenly we’ve delayed for a whole month what we should have already started.
I challenge all who read this to do ONE THING.  If there is something that you want to begin doing, and not necessarily this mini-program I detailed over the last couple of weeks, but ANY regimen that you feel you should start, START TODAY!  Don’t wait til tomorrow, start right now.  If you are reading this it’s because you had a free moment.  Use it to begin.  Make that first caricature.  Drop down and do 20 pushups.  Turn off the monitor and do a short breathing exercise and look within.  Read something that interests YOU (other than this… I won’t let this count, because I know your intentions, you reader you!).
So hop to it.  NO EXCUSES.  MOnday is still two days away.  TWO FRUITFUL DAYS.  Don’t waste the opportunity!  IN Rob’s last great words, “Doodle it before you lose it!”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Well, that’s why I repeated it.  Duh!

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A balanced life PART V

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
I talked about the five things that we need to work on daily to become a complete person.  We must work on our physical intellectual, creative, and spiritual aspects so that we can be healthy in all facets of our life.  So the argument comes.  When will I find the time to do all these things.  We all live in very hectic times when we have little time to do more than what we are already required to do to survive.  That’s what we’ve all been conditioned to believe by our society.  We don’t need to watch two or three hours of television.  We don’t need to surf the internet for hours at a time.  We don’t need to talk on the phone for long periods of time.  We allow these things (and others) to consume our time, only to find that we have little time left.
In order to do these things we simply must separate one hour of time each day.  I don’t mean one hour of time for each activity.  I mean one total hour of time.  If we can separate this one hour, whether it be at 6am before going to work, right when we get home from work, or maybe the last hour or so before going to bed, we will be able to accomplish these 4 small goals daily.  What we need to be aware of is this.  We are not looking to make drastic changes in our being all at once.  We just want to create habits and consistency.  A short period of time doing these activities will help one develop this consistency.
I personally like to give myself time around 10:00pm.  I happen to be a night owl, so this works for me.  Yes, I do have time to do it earlier in the day, but this is when I feel like I’ll have the fewest distractions.  Now, giving myself one hour, this is one way I can break up my time.
For 15 minutes I can read something informational or work on something that will stimulate my brain.  A writer would read a novel, maybe.  A mathematician may go over problems.  An architect may read a professional magazine concerning architecture, and so on.  I like to do cross sums and crossword puzzles.  They open my mind to words and numbers, the very things that I enjoy manipulating and that i think will help me create. 
After about 15 minutes, I can sit in fromt of the computer and type whatever comes into my mind.  In the beginning this may be very difficult, but persistence will produce results.  If all you can spit out in 15 minutes is one word or one sentence, so be it.  Let that be the starting point for tomorrow.  I like to type, but someone else may like to draw, or pull out a guitar and compose.  Whatever gets you creating something new. 
At this point, I would probably go for a jog.  My jogs are normally about 20 minutes long, and between 2 and 2 1/2 miles.  This will get me woeking on my physical state.  It’s amazing how a little running every day gives you more energy to work the following day.  Somebody else may want to do a light workout with weights or do a cardio workout with a video. 
When I get home, I will wind down.  While I am doing this I can sit down with a tall glass of water and I can reflect on the day.  Sometimes I need to catch my breath first, but once I do so, I can clear my mind of everything and just focus on me, and what I’d accomplished that day.  And as I mentioned before, I like to do this in the form of prayer. 
One hour.  Maybe a little more, maybe a little less, depending on what you decide to stress more on that given day.  There are no rules as to how to split up your time.  It just needs to be done.  One may feel that a particular aspect of his life needs more attention.  He may feel like he’s overweight and needs a little extra exercise.  Another may feel like she is not in tune with herself and wants to spend more time in reflection.  Simply put the focus where you feel it should be.  If you feel you need to give 40 minutes of that hour to reading or training your brain, then just make sure that you split up that last 20 minutes in a way that will include the other “exercises” - a quick sketch, some push-ups, and an Our Father, for instance.  Everything is covered.
In the long run, the goal is to try to give an equal amount of importance to each aspect so that you can maintain your health in all areas.  After some time, you may find yourself extending that hour and giving yourself more time.  the time exists.  We just need to make sure that we manage it well.  we also need to make sure that the things that we give up to create this time are not the things most imporatnt to us, like our family or our jobs.  Those things must come first for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t mean that we then neglect ourselves.  A healthy ME will no doubt reflect in my relationships both at home and at work.  So don’t deny yourself that hour.
The last suggestion I have is to gibe yourself one free dayfrom the routine.  Sometimes routines get old and tired.  By giving yourself a day off, you can rest up and be ready to start anew the following week.  Hey, if God can rest on the seventh day, then why can’t we?  We just need to make sure to promise ourselves that we will pick up where we left off that next day. 
Now, I’ll be the first to say that it is not easy to do this.  Getting started is the most difficult part.  We may do two or three of the things we should be doing and then we stop because we’re physically or mentally exhausted.  It’s just like a physical workout.  We need to pace ourselves, or we’ll burn ourselves out.  But one thing is vital.  Don’t quit, just minimize the rest of your exercises that day, then begin with a different one the next day to make sure that you’ll give it the emphasis it was denied the day before.  As I said before, only persistence will get us through.
So today i invite you to join me in beginning this program.  We will persevere together.  We will all become healthy in every way we can.  And we will become more complete people in the process.  Feel free to respond to this message to keep me up to date with your progress and I’ll do the same.  GOOD LUCK!!

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NEW MINISTRY

Monday, March 26th, 2007

Last week, I had a little birthday party, where i invited many of my closest friends to share in a night of what I hoped would be a lot of laughter.  Fortunate for me, my wish came true.  I’ve always felt that laughter is truly the best medicine.  it came make anyone feel better, and can help one forget even the worst of memories, even if it’s only for a short period of time.  If the right thing is said to make someone laugh, then that will create a new, positive memory that the person can relive whenever they need a good laugh.  I know this to be true, because every time I want a good laugh, I’ll simply think of a funny scene in a movie or recite some lines or reenact a piece from said movie with some friends, and I always find myself laughing all over again.

Well, if laughter can be so addictive, and can bring back memories that are so positive, then why can’t it be used as an educational tool?  This is what I was thinking about the other day.  I’ve always felt that God has chosen me to try to spread His Word to others.  Ministry therefore has always been a big part of my life.  So far, I have worked as a peer leader in a High School Youth Group (SpiritFire), a family ministry for families with teenagers (Encuentros Familiares), a Catholic archdiocesan momement for youth and young adults (Encuentros Juveniles), a young adult group for young Catholics not associated with a parish (For Christ’s Sake), two different parish Young Adult Group (SpiritAlive and Crossroads), a radio show (Fast Forward), and a family ministry for kids with young children (Impactos).  Along with that, I’ve also been a eucharistic minister, a lector, and I’ve been the coordiantor for my parish carnival each of the past two years.  So, am I taking advantage here to show off what I’ve done, to look superior, to make a reader feel insignificant.  HARDLY!  As I said I’ve felt like I’ve been called to do these things.  I’ve just been answering a call.  I’ve also felt like as time has passed, my needs and the ones of the people around me have changed, and therefore where I’ve ministered has changed also.  Well, now I find myself in a situation where I feel it’s time to see how else I can minister and where it is that i am needed, and at the same time I’m looking to see how the Lord wants me to help.  And it seems to me that the path the Lord is taking me in is to go out and teach people about God… through laughter.

For some time now, I have been totally intrigued by the topic of improvisational comedy.  I was first introduced to it as ministry at a workshop called LIFE camp near San Antonio that i attended with Dania, my wife, when she was the campus minister at St. Brendan High School.  Two of the leaders of the camp were part od an Improv Troupe, and used their expertise to evangelize to the high school students attending.  It was great.  it also made me think, “I can do that.” 

Fast forward to 2004… I was at a body shop for my wife’s minivan that had a broken piece.  As I waited, I was surfing online for some form of entertainment so that I can get some tickets to a musical or something for Christmas to give to Dania.  instead i found a site about Improv and where to take classes.  This struck in such a way that I wound up signing up for a class.  Then, I signed up for a second class.  Then, a third.  At the end of each course, I had to do an improv performance to “pass” the course.  During my last class, I performed twice.  The first time was a street performance in the middle of Miracle Mile in the heart of Coral Gables (FL) to unsuspecting passersby.  The second time was as part of a show hosted by the main Improv Troupe in Miami, Just the Funny.  The exhilaration I felt in perfroming was incredible.  I promised myself that I would do it again.  So I decided to try out for Just the Funny.  I thought that my audition went well, but I didn’t get a call back initially.  i gave up on the idea of performing.  Then four weeks later, I got a call back for a second audition.  Excited as I was, I felt like it was no longer the right time, and let the moment pass.

Fast Forward again to 2006.  For some unknown reason, my brother and I are asked to be in charge of folklore at a retreat we are working on.  Usually folklore requires the leaders to lead the participants in song.  One major problem… my brother and I can’t sing.  We have trouble humming!  So, we needed to figure out a way to entertain the people and spread the notion of unity and comeraderie as Church.  We decided to be funny (or to try to be anyway).  We thought of a number of different ways to do this, when suddenly it hit me… do a little Improv.  Well, the date came, and I gave my brother a few pointers and we jumped in and did it.  It was a great hit.  Not only that, we were told by the coordinators that it was the best folklore they had witnessed yet!  Hey maybe we were on to something.  So, some weeks back in another retreat, we made a repeat performance.  Again, it was a great success.  Was God telling me something? 

I’m still not sure about the answer to that last question, but I am definitely interested in searching for one.  It was then that I decided to have a party with Improv as a theme. All who came had to participate in some capacity.  Suggestions would be made by all, and some would have to jump in and perform.  It was like “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” in my family room.  It went great.  There was a lot of laughing, and we all had great fun.  Upon hearing of its success, many of those who couldn’t attend asked me when we were going to do it again.  A couple of the people there also wanted to know if we could get together from time to time just for kicks because it was so much fun.

Which leads me to now.  I want to domore than just get together and do this for kicks.  I believe this could be a learning tool for those who want to learn more about God.  In the least it could be an invitation to find out more about our Lord and our Church.  I decided to find out more about this as a ministry.  What I found out was this.  There are a number of Christian Improv acts around nationally.  This was great news.  There were very few Catholic Improv acts in existence.  This news was good and bad.  It was bad news because it meant that Improv was not being used in a manner that could be useful to our Church in many places.  It was good because i felt that it meant that it would be an opportunity to jump on and do the Lord’s work in a new and alive way.

Now, I truly believe that doing this would work.  The tough part is selling this to others so that they can join me on this quest.  (The toughest sale will be to my wife and our three, soon to be four kids).  If I can show that this would be something that would be in everybody’s best interest spiritually, including my own, then I think that we will be on our way.  So today is day one.  With God’s help I will find my troupe and my support.  Then we could go out and spread God’s word one laugh at a time.

PRAY FOR US!!!  As promised my mission statement will be coming soon!!!

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A balanced life PART IV

Friday, March 23rd, 2007
So I’ve discussed the imporatnce of incorporating three things into your daily life:  time to work on your your physical, intellectual, and creative dimensions.  Now, I get to the last aspect of our lives that we need to consider daily… our spiritual part.  I left the spiritual for last not because it’s the most importnat, though some may argue that.  i personally believe that to be complete individuals we need a total balance of all these aspects, meaning that no part is more important than the reat. (Kind of like saying to a Christian that one of the persons in God is more important than the rest… that would make no sense.)  I left the spiritual for last because in its most basic nature, the spiritual is our essence, our core.  It is where we began, and therefore must be where we end.
Now if we truly want to be our true best self, we need to know who we are, what we believe, what we stand for, what makes us happy.  We can not wait until we are defined by someone else.  We must set out to define ourselves, by looking inside and seeing what makes us special, what makes us unique.  Our physical and intellectual abilities are definitely a reflection of who we are. But just as a mirror is a two dimensional image of who we are, what we reflect physically and intellectually are just an image of what we can be.  Sometimes it is but a vague image.  It is only looking inside that we can truly see what makes us “tick”.  Understanding ourselves will help us to prioritize things in life and will help us to conclude what we can do to make us happy.
Once we come to that conclusion we can act, and the result of these actions is creation.  Internalizing will help us to see what we are capable of, and will help us to overcome any “supposed” physical or mental limitations that may have been placed on us by others or by the world itself.
So how can we internalize.  Well, there are many ways to be able to become in tune with your spiritual self.  Meditation, reflection, plain old silence, yoga are all ways to do this.  I can go into each one individually, but instead I will discuss the one that works best for me.  That is prayer.
If we want to come to terms with who we are, the best way to do so is to go to the source.  We should be willing to turn to the one that gave us everything we have: our lives, our families, our home, our gifts and talents.  He gave each one of us the tools to be successful.  We simply need to learn how to use these tools. Then, why are we so reluctant to turn to the one who equipped us to begin with.  Many of my own talents I’ve only come across after time and meditation.  It was only when I threw caution to the wind and dared myself to grow that I did so.  Fear is a great deterrent, and many times is caused by the unknown.  Well, if we don’t know ourselves, then we will be too afraid to see what we are capable of doing.  Only when we are in tune with ourselves will we be able to overcome any obstacle that will prevent each one of us from becoming the ultimate “me”.  Prayer gives us the answers we need.
But in order for prayer to be effective, we must be willing to do two things.  First, ask.  Second, listen.  Many of us know how to do the first.  we just don’t wait around to get the answer.  We don’t realize that the answers are going to be given to us.  We usually act like if the answer is that He is going to be provided for us through His actions as opposed to Him providing us with a direction that we alone must follow.  The answer comes, but WE must act.  His answers open the door into how to use the tools He has given us.  Our actions will create the results that will determine who we truly are, or who we will become.  They will allow us to go and do things that are special.
But in the end, this result will only be great if we are complete.  Within prayer we get the answers and can seek the motivation to work on our physical and intellectual aspects so that we can make a great creation.  All four aspects are vital.  one left out, and the result will be less than what it could have been.  So we must incorporate these things into our every day life.
BUT HOW?
I will discuss that in my next entry.

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A balanced life PART III

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
I left off yesterday talking about how we have to feed our brain.  But feeding our brain will be worthless unless we do something with it.  Knowledge should be attained so that it can be shared.  But it shouldn’t be shared strictly as information.  No, the knowledge must be put to practice.  This falls into two categories.  Using your knowledge to make a living, and using your knowledge for living.  The first obviously deals with our profession.  We must have knowledge in order to do our jobs properly, whether one is a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, a mail carrier, an anything.  The second is what we actually do with our lives.  Our lives are not work alone, and it is our resposibility, yes RESPONSIBILITY, as living beings to be productive then too.  That is why we need to be able to put our knowledge to use by creating.  The neat thing is that we can go and create whatever we want, specifically what we would enjoy most creating.
Now some people get frustrated because they don’t feel so creative.  they feel like what they can do is not necessarily of good quality.  Well, there is a good reason for that.  Not everything we do is going to be of good quality.  Output is a result of input.  If we want to create something good, we must bring in good resources.  that’s where knowledge comes in.  the better prepared we are, the better our creations will be.  But quantity is not sufficient, we must bring in useful information.
Think of this.  When we eat our body responds in a way indicative of what we ate.  If we eat healthy, we will generally feel and act healthier.  If we eat trash, we will act and feel like garbage.  The same goes for information intake.  if we want to create something special we must focus on learning the things that will help us make our creation special.
This still doesn’t guarantee good work, though.  And that’s OK.  The point is to work.  No matter how well one eats, there will be waste to discharge.  Once the waste is out, the body is more efficient, and can thus work more efficiently.  If the body does not remove the waste, it would get sick, and would therefore not function properly.  It is the same for our creative selves.  When we begin to create we must rid ourselves of excess “junk”, thereby purifying ourselves of all things that hinder our creativity.  That’s why we have first, second, and third drafts when doing work.  That’s also why one needs to simply get started in order to produce something of value.  The more you work, the quicker you can excrete the extra stuff.  Once your load is lightened, then you find it easier to continue.  how many times have we started doing something that felt like great labor, only to find ourselves on a roll, where we couldn’t stop typing, stop drawing, stop molding.  We simply couldn’t stop!  All our positive resources were working and hence, we were coming up with inspired work!
This is the very reason we need to create daily.  We need to make sure that we don’t accumulate the matter that prevents our creative minds from working efficiently.  Doin so will only allow us to put forth great work.  We need only put ourselves in a state where we can create.  There is one best way to axchieve that state.  That is by internalizing.  That is what I will be going over tomorrow.  But, don’t wait for me to get you the info.  Go give yourself a chance, and in Rob’s words, “GO CREATE SOMETHING”!

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A balanced life PART II

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007
The next element we need to incorporate into our everyday life is the intellectual aspect.  We are intelligent beings.  We can do all kinds of marvelous things that no other life form on earth can do.  Yet, we use such a small percentage of our brains.  I truly believe it is because we don’t train it to do more.  We need to learn to stimulate our brains.  The way to do this is to educate ourselves.  Think of this as feeding your intellect.  Most of us already do this but with useless information.  TV, movies, video games, surfing the net uselessly.  This is like eating junk food.  Just as junk food destroys your body and makes it inefficient, so does inundating ourselves with these media destroy our minds.
We need to get our brains healthy by taking in information that will be conducive to its growth.  We could do this by reading something informational and applicable on a daily basis.  We could read a novel, a how to book, an inspirational book.  Or if we are going to watch TV, we need to make sure it’s something that will force us to think.
Just like our bodies, our minds need to be fed to be productive.  Proper stimulation means our brains won’t tire so easily from thinking too much.  It will be “fit” to work for extended periods.  So let’s get our brains in shape by doind something daily that will force it to work.  I personally like crosswords, and cross sums, because they expand my vocabulary and help me to analyze relationships in numbers, respectively.  What do you like to do?  Whatever it is, do it so that you’ll be ready to go onto step 3 (and Rob’s favorite), creating something daily.  Stay tuned!

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A balanced life PART I

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
Let’s start with the most obvious, the most visible.  We live in a society of excesses.  It seems that everybody wants more, more, more.  It is no wonder that we are also the most obese society on the planet.  We see food the same way… more, more, more.  There has been a movement for the past couple of decades to help reverse that trend giving advice in every possible way to help people stay fit.  They include all kinds of diets, pills, lifestyle changes, etc.  There has been one consistent in every plan, (even though they put it in extremely small print in many places so that people won’t know the true secret to staying physically fit) and that is exercise.
If we want to not only look good but feel good, we must be active.  Consciously active.  The more we focus on working on our physique, the more responsible we will be in making sure we don’t let ourselves get out of hand.
The biggest complaint I hear from people is that they don’t have time to exercise.  The day is too complicated.  They are too tired from having worked all day.  The truth is that these are all excuses for not doing something necessary.  the truth is that we are not MOTIVATED.  We need to find a reason to want to do it.  Many of us are either content or apathetic to our state of being (regardless of whether we complain about it or not) and therefore we do nothing.  We must make a conscious decision to do the exercise we need to do to feel healthy.
As for the time issue, if it seems that the day is too crowded, then let’s begin with something easy.  Go for a walk.  10 minutes.  With the kids.  Go for a five minute bike ride.  Do 20 pushups.  Something short and simple.  Make that an every day habit.  When you get used to doing that, you may find yourself going for longer walks, or longer bike rides simply as an extension of what you are already doing. 
The key is to make sure that it becomes habit.  The moment that you stop doing it, it’s back to the drawing board, and you need to motivate yourself again.  So, just be sure you don’t stop.  Even if you catch a cold, do something, even if it’s minor.  In my experience, when I’ve been working out, I haven’t gotten sick.  Why? Because the body gets stronger and can fight off all “attackers”, including viruses and germs.  A healthy body is vital in keeping one strong. 
It is step one in making each one of us a complete person.

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A balanced life

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
You know we spend a lot of our time making sure that we stay fit.  Some of us do it physically, some creatively, some intellectually, and some spiritually.  Over the next few days I’m going to talk about the importance of a little bit of each one.  If we can give 10 minutes a day to doodle, we must be able to give 10 minutes a day also to our minds, bodies and souls.  Only then will we be complete in all human aspects.  Easy to do? No.  But it something we all MUST do.

For the next four days let’s talk about how we can all accomplish this, and how we can manage our time to succeed in this battle and still have time (more than enough, in fact) for our daily professional lives, and more importantly our family lives.

STAY TUNED>>>>

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